Mowbray sacked as Middlesbrough manager

Middlesbrough have announced that manager Tony Mowbray has left the club with immediate effect following a poor start to the new Championship season.

Assistant coach Mark Venus is set to take over as caretaker manager until a permanent successor for the 49-year-old is appointed.

Club legend Mowbray - who made 348 league appearances in a nine-year spell for his boyhood team - took the job in 2010, after Gordon Strachan voluntarily terminated his contract after just a year in charge at the Riverside.

Mowbray was unable to lift Boro out of the second tier in his three years at the helm, after finishing 12th, seventh and then 16th last season, and they aren’t seeing much improvement so far this term.

The Teesside outfit have won just two of their opening 12 league games and lie 16th in the standings, and the side’s current form has undoubtedly led to Mowbray’s departure.

A statement issued on Middlesbrough’s official website read: "The club would like to place on record their sincere thanks to Tony Mowbray for all of his substantial efforts, dedication and integrity.